Inspired by your Shoelaces
by youngwriter56
Summary: Somehow, Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger reunite in Gringotts and somehow, they get stuck in a cart together, and somehow, they actually get stuck. As in STUCK. And shameless flirting ensues. Oneshot.


Obnoxious droplets of rain pounded down on the pointy and gothic roofs of Gringotts.

_Squeak squeak squeak squeak _

The goblins looked up from their intense work to see a pair of wet, brown converse sneakers squeaking its way to the front where a man in his late teens held up a line (well, it became a line after she joined him.)

Hermione Granger felt his eyes on her, but she ignored them as she fished through her large jean pockets for her pretty silver key.

"Why so ignorant, Granger?" a voice drawled.

Hermione looked up, shocked of course.

She had just gotten out of school, Hogwarts. Well, actually, she hadn't JUST gotten out. She had just… gotten out a few months ago. And this man who stood before (more like above) her certainly DID NOT.

"Malfoy… you… Malfoy… murder…"

"Fantastic word association, there. I applaud you."

"What are you…? Um… what are you doing?"

"I am merely taking out some money from my vault. If you thought I was here to kill off everyone, you should know, perhaps for your future knowledge, that I would never do that here. Nobody would ever do that here. These goblins are simply too hideous." Draco said, casting an ugly look at the one who was helping him.

The poor goblin peered over the edge of the table. However, he wasn't very poor. He was a wicked little thing.

"The cart is ready, Mr. Malfoy. Why doesn't Miss join you?"

Draco looked back at the green monster. "Okay, I was kidding. Goblins are not hideous."

The goblin shook his (its) head.

"You lie. The cart is big and Mister and Miss have vaults next to each other." The goblin informed, jumping off his stool, only to topple over and fall down.

Hermione stifled a chuckle and stepped forward to help him (it) up, but the goblin rejected her. (here's the awww) "Follow Spicker now." the goblin said, beckoning for a troublesome goblin to lead them to an awaiting cart.

Draco and Hermione climbed inside, shivering and queasy.

Neither liked riding the carts at Gringotts much.

It was no amusement park ride, after all.

SUDDENLY, (Here's the part when reader jumps up from thy seat in anxiety) the cart stopped (rather roughly.)

"What the…"

Before Draco could do anything, brown converse ran across the other side of the cart and a mass of curly brown hair bobbed out, throwing up her lunch remains.

Draco blanched.

Hermione came back, a bit green and pale in the face and lied down.

"Disgusting."

"Your face is disgusting." She retorted weakly.

"Ticker? Spicker? Can we go now and get this over with?"

There was no reply.

"What was the ickle goblin's name again?" Draco asked.

"Sticker, I'm sure." (And yes, thy reader, I know that its name is actually Spicker)

"Sticker? The cart?"

"Wait… Malfoy, open your eyes."

"Why? Are you making a face?"

"No… the goblin… Sticker… he's gone!"

"Why?"

"And since when was I ever a Goblin mind reader?"

"And since when did I ever answer one of Granger's questions?"

"You know, if we pay goblins tip, then this one is one broke goblin. Horrible customer service."

"Don't be shooting muggle terms at me. I'm too weak." Draco said, with a mock faint.

"Oh. You're too funny."

"STICKER!"

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" (And this is the point of the story where thy ready asks "what the fuck is this writer smoking?" My answer is that I don't smoke. Just drink occasionally. Haha, no, I'm just playing with your mind.)

"Bloody hell! What is it? Have you broken a fingernail?"

"NO! STICKER! HE'S DEAD!"

"I'm not sure if it's because you're a muggle but… goblins… like… practically… never… die… that's why they're so ugly."

"LOOK!"

Draco looked out of the cart where Hermione was pointing at and he let out his freaky scream of God.

"AH (TIMES 239487)"

"The momentum of the cart must have made him fall out. What a horrid… horrid... horrid death."

"Suits him. Worst customer service." Draco mumbled.

"Well, the question is, MALFOY, do you know how to work a cart?"

"No, I do not. Sorry. Do I look like a goblin to you?"

"Will you quit that? This is serious. We might be stuck here."

"No shit, Sherlock. Hey, here's an idea, why don't we just get out?"

"Stupid… you think I couldn't have thought of that. We could only get out once the goblin does and unlocks it."

"Well, technologically speaking, he's out of the cart."

"But we can't unlock this."

"Mm."

"So…"

"I really like your shoelaces, Granger."

"Oh… why… thank you."

Hermione said, shuffling her pink hearted shoelaces around. Well, actually, she shuffled her shoes around but while she did that, her pink hearted shoelaces got shuffled around as well.

"So… we're seriously stuck here?"

"Yes. No point of crying for help; the tracks are soundproof."

"Why the hell would you make cart tracks soundproof?"

"Goblins like quiet atmospheres and the sound of the carts rolling on the tracks disturb them. I read it once, in…"

Draco smirked. Oh by god, did he miss that smirk. He'd been frowning a lot lately. "Of course you read it."

Hermione blushed. "My point is that we'll just have to wait for the next one to come."

"I can live with that." Draco said, stretching out and lying next to Hermione.

"Well, I can't."

"Boohoo. Cry me a river. I really dislike that song."

"That's a song?"

"Well, it sounds like it's a song and it sounds like I don't like it."

"Don't judge a book by its cover."

"Only someone like you would say something so cliché, yet true like that."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"It's a free country. You do what you want to do. Go ahead and paint hearts on your shoelaces."

"I did NOT paint them, Malfoy. I bought them like this."

"Sorry, my bad. What a horrible mistake I have made. It'll take me directly to hell. No, Azkaban."

"Well, just think back, it won't be hard to remember Azkaban, now, considering that you probably just got out, huh?"

"Wow, won't you think that if a charming little chap like me got locked up in Azkaban, they'll have me on the news?"

"Well, considering that all your ickle deatheater friends were getting caught- rather stupid aren't they- I'd say that they simply didn't have time for you."

"Well, for your information, I'm sorry that I never owl'ed you to inform you on how I was. I never went to Azkaban. I had a little bonding time with my dog, that's all."

"Dog?"

"Shnoozle. I got her right before the summer."

"Only you can think of a name like Shnoozle, Malfoy."

"Only you can pronounce it correctly, Granger. I'd have to give you credit on that."

"Thank you, I'm deeply honored."

"You do know that this shameless flirting is not going to get us anywhere, right?"

Hermione choked on her own spit. "Shameless flirting?"

"Trust me, I know when I'm flirting and I know when a girl's flirting."

"I am so definitely not flirting."

"And I so don't hate Harry Potter."

"I don't know about you, but I am not doing any flirting. I don't do that kind of stuff."

"Ah… you skip the salad and get to the cake. I understand."

"What… the… what the hell?"

"Meaning, you cut the crap and get to the sex, huh?"

"No! No! I'm not some dirty whore!"

"I wasn't really calling you a whore. You must be opposite of whores."

"Yes, actually I am. I like to keep to myself."

"Tell me, Granger, just out of curiosity, have you ever even kissed someone of the opposite sex?"

"Curiosity killed the cat."

"I have a dog, actually."

"Well, I have a cat."

"The hideous orange one, right? I remember that one. It nearly ripped my head off back in Hogwarts."

"It does tend to weed out the bad ones."

"I heard it had a severe dislike for Weasley."

"Actually, it was Ron's rat it was after."

"Same thing, really."

"Sometimes, I have to agree with you."

"Aw… are things not going as well as you wanted to with your love life?"

"Ron is not my love interest. And nothing is wrong with us. He's just a prat sometimes, that's all."

"Like now?"

"No, not really. Well, sort of. He hasn't owl'ed me once since we got out."

"Why don't you owl him first, then?"

Hermione didn't answer him.

"Ah… aww.. how cute. You're waiting for him to make… what was it? The 'first move?"

"It's not really like that. It's that we didn't end on a good term either and it's his fault. See, he…"

"Sorry to disturb you, Granger, but I don't want to be dishonest with you. I don't really want to hear about Weasley right now."

"Oh, sorry. I didn't really want to talk about it, especially with you, anyway."

"Well then, it's all settled. Just one more question."

"Hit me." Hermione sighed

"Don't you usually spend summers with him?"

"I guess. As I said, we ended on sort of a bad term. I'm waiting for an invite now, I guess."

"What a depressing love story. Heart breaking, really."

"Just stating the facts. This is a harsh, brutal world."

"Word."

"For sure."

"I really like your shoelaces, Granger."

"Thank you."

Draco leaned over and without warning or planning; he kissed her right there, his hand cupping her chin. She never stopped him.

It wasn't one of the gross disgusting, and tongue-y kisses. It was a simple easy kiss, romantic in some ways and ironic in others. For instance, they were both in a cart in a dark underground track with drippy ceilings and a cold, gloomy, and uneasy atmosphere.

But none of it really mattered.

Draco pulled back slowly, tugging on her lower lip slightly.

"I think we're being rescued now." Draco remarked after a second's silence.

"I believe so too."

And indeed they were, for a light came baring down on them and a cart stopped just before it hit them.

Draco and Hermione got out, a small tingling sensation taking over their body after many minutes stuck in a wooden cart.

They forgot about the money that still awaited them hungrily in their vaults and a dead goblin on the tracks and as if they were in a trance, they walked out into the pouring rain, their shoes and shoelaces guiding them all the way.

And silently, Hermione thanked her pink hearted shoelaces.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Yay.

I thought I should do SOMETHING with my stories.

I HAVE WRITER'S BLOCK.

SO I DIDN'T GET ANY NEW CHAPTERS DONE.

Which is why I made a new story (this is done though) to make sure that my readers know that I'm still alive and breathing and functioning (sort of, just barely.)

Anyway, I'm not sure about this story. It was sort of… retarded, I know. I tried making it funny, but it's sort of hard for me (which is why it's so hard now to try to update my stories) because I'm not really a funny person.

Well, I hope you liked it. I know it's sort of random and like one of those… 'okay, this was pretty fucked up stuff' stories that you read but you never review.

But why don't you shake things up a little and leave a review, eh? ; )

Later, beautiful fools! – youngwriter56


End file.
